Scoring with the Net - the Cybermarketing of English Football Clubs

Abstract

In the past eight years, English Premier League football has become increasingly commercial, and there has been a consequent growth in the importance of club marketing. The Internet and cybermarketing have simultaneously developed as commercial phenomena over the same period. The main aim of this paper is to examine the scope, nature and content of football club websites from a marketing perspective. It also seeks to highlight the competitive advantages that clubs may derive from their sites. The paper is based upon a qualitative survey of club sites, building on earlier work by the authors. It was based on an existing model for analysing sports websites, and involved site surveys, and telephone and face-to-face interviews with club officials. The authors found that, despite improvements compared to their earlier study, most club sites remain underdeveloped and that many clubs have still to seize the opportunities that the Web offers. While some clubs are becoming more sophisticated in their use of cyberm...